


Paternal Instinct

by Chiauve



Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: Baby!Fic, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-10
Updated: 2012-04-10
Packaged: 2017-11-03 10:28:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/380385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chiauve/pseuds/Chiauve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vali is not born a monster, and Loki doesn't know how to handle that. Sigyn would find it funny if it wasn't so sad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paternal Instinct

**Author's Note:**

> From the Norsekink prompt:  
>  _I just want a scene at myth-not-comic!Sigyn's birthing bed where Loki has an emotion moment because he finally has a child that's "normal" and won't be taken away from him. Preferably from Sigyn's POV._
> 
> Repost 'cause the first time got effed up.

He is pink and wrinkled and somehow still the most beautiful thing Sigyn has ever seen, his cries quieted to a bleary exhaustion as she holds him in her arms. She is reluctant at first to let go of her precious newborn son, but the healers insist on attending her and the baby is passed to his father.

Loki’s hands shake as the newly swaddled babe is handed to him, as though he is afraid to touch it, to spoil it. Sigyn can see the shock in his features; that the baby appears so normal is unnerving to him. It would be almost funny if it wasn’t so sad. Head cradled and settled in Loki’s hands, their son puckers his face up at him and blinks.

And then wails.

Sigyn sighs. Loki arrived to the birthing chambers in full armor and it is most likely his horned helmet that has distressed their son so. What, did he think that the babe would attack him? She then thinks on Loki’s previous children and rescinds her thought. Loki’s head jerks back at the scream and he promptly deposit’s their son back in Sigyn’s arm before backing off to let the healers continue their work. He has no idea how to handle a babe that is not a monster.

Sigyn is strangely heartened by the thought. They can learn together.

 

Despite the All-Father’s attempts to cover up the incidents, word traveled around Asgard of Loki, the Mother of Monsters. The very idea sent any potential wives scurrying for cover. So when Sigyn became a suggested match for the prince, her mother had begged her to refuse. While the wife of the second son of the king was an enviable position, surely Sigyn would be happy with a fellow noble’s son.

“You’re children would be monsters!”

During banquets and feasts, Sigyn sought out those close to Loki and asked all of them the same question: “The Prince’s children, did he love them?”

And they said, “They were monsters!”

“But did he love them?”

The answer was always a hesitant and confused yes.

Sigyn accepted and was married to Prince Loki soon after.

 

The babe is named Vali.

The next time Loki attempts to hold his child is after the celebrating has died down and the new parents retire to their wing, exhausted. Vali had burbled contentedly in Frigga’s arms and even giggled at his grandfather Odin before the crowds and noise became too much and a nurse carried him from the festivities. She greets Loki and Sigyn as they enter and, with slight reluctance, relieves herself of her charge to his mother before departing. Sigyn smiles at her new love, humming to him as she walks to the bedroom.

Loki remains behind, summoning attendants to help him remove his armor. When he arrives later, Sigyn meets him at the door with a kiss.

“Look at what we’ve made, look at our son,” she whispers, gazing down at the dozing babe in her arms. Vali blinks awake as she shifts him and gives him to Loki, but does not fuss or cry. Again, Vali blinks big eyes at his father.

Sigyn smiles. “See? He just didn’t like your armor.”

No sooner does she say the words that Vali begins wailing again, his little fists flailing. Loki tries to soothe him but it is awkward and not something to which he is comfortable. He finally gives in and returns Vali to his mother, where he calms again and the crying ceases.

“He’s just hungry,” Sigyn says as Loki moves away to prepare for bed.

 

The men are useless as always. Now that Loki has sired a viable son, he can’t escape well-wishing warriors and their advice (usually delivered with a hearty slap to the back that sends the sorcerer stumbling). But most of their excitement follows on the subject of what a strong warrior the boy will be and his future exploits with women and how Loki should handle those events, never with the babe that exists now. It is just as well, Sigyn thinks, they all seem to forget that Loki is a father several times over and even a mother!

(Which springs to her mind the entirely awkward situation of lying upon the birthing bed and receiving advice from her well-meaning husband from his own experiences. Worse were the tips that began with “Now, if it has more than four limbs…” and ended with “…but if it has no limbs it should slip right out.”)

Her own experiences are not much better. Sigyn is the recipient of so much contradictory advice on how to care for her child she takes to slipping away discreetly whenever she spies certain ladies of the court. Unfortunately, her two most prominent advisers are her mother and the Queen, neither can she ignore easily.

But it is Loki who frustrates her the most, and not in his usual way she secretly finds amusing. She did not notice at first, so enamored with her beautiful, vibrant Vali, that Loki had yet to truly spend time or bond with his son.

“Why don’t you hold him a moment?”

“He doesn’t like me.”

“He’s a baby.”

“And he’s proving to be an exceptionally perceptive one.”

Vali still cries like Loki is a stranger, and Loki seems to give in and accept that.

Sigyn is furious; Loki never gives up on anything, be damned if he was going to do so with his own child.

 

“They’re not going to take him from you.”

Loki enters the sitting room to find Sigyn reclining upon a couch, watching the dying embers from a fire long burned out. The room is dark. He shuts the door.

“What?”

“You’re so worried that Odin’s going to take Vali away, like all the others, that you refuse to let yourself get close to him.” An excuse, Vali’s crying and supposed dislike of Loki, is all he needs to create a gap between himself and his offspring in his mind.

Loki glares at her and then smirks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Clearly you are not getting enough rest. I will summon one of the nurses to look after Vali tonight.” He walks towards their bedroom, passing her and her words with little interest.

She uncoils from the couch and stands in one fluid movement, though her arms are stiff at her sides. “I will not allow our son to be raised as you were!” she shouts at his retreating back.

Loki stops and snaps his head around, his eyes brighter than the embers in the fireplace. He says nothing (and that sends a chill down Sigyn’s back colder than any wind of Jotunheim) before entering their bedchambers. She follows and finds him standing over Vali’s cradle, watching his son sleep. Vali dreams and drools contentedly, wrapped in soft furs and blankets, and Loki’s hand reaches out slowly, as though to caress his son’s dark hair, but then stops and is pulled back.

Loki leaves without a word.

 

That night, before retiring to bed, Sigyn pulls out Loki’s helmet and places it in her son’s cradle. Vali wakes at the intruder and screams at the sight of it, but Sigyn soothes him until he quiets and regards the big golden thing warily. Eventually, realizing that his new bedmate is of no danger, Vali falls asleep.

Sigyn repeats this for several nights, Vali eventually coming to laughter as she places the helmet beside him. He reaches for the horns and she tilts them down so he can grab them. When he sleeps, she returns the helmet to its place and prepares for bed herself.

Sometimes she finds Loki crouched beside the cradle, watching but never touching his child, and her heart aches.

 

The return of the Sons of Odin and their friends from another adventure is always an event for Asgard. The people cheer as Thor leads his friends from the Bifrost to their home and the family that awaits them. Sigyn waits beside Odin and Frigga, Vali fussing in her arms from the noise. She does not wait for the speeches or for Thor to begin the tale of their adventures but rushes to her husband, splendid in his golden armor, and embraces him with her free arm. He returns the affection, but is hesitant when Sigyn offers him his son.

Vali blinks up at his father and sees the light reflecting off the great golden horns of his helmet. He smiles and reaches for them, but all Loki can see is his child reaching for _him_. Shocked, he takes Vali and offers his finger to the reaching babe. Vali grasps the finger tightly and laughs wide and toothless, before sticking it in his mouth.

While Loki focuses on Vali, Sigyn watches his face transform from shock to joy, his face cracked into a broad smile from which a breathy laugh escapes.

And with it all excuses and doubts.

 

Sigyn set aside her stitching long ago and watches the fire begin to die, reclining against her husband, still happily bouncing their son in his arms and whispering unknowns to him. With his self-made barriers broken down, Loki’s paternal instinct was at full force and Sigyn was having a hard time just to get him to let go of Vali even for a short time. It is adorably cute, and Sigyn has every intention of teasing him about it later. But for right now…

“May I have him back now? He needs to be fed.”

She can feel Loki smile behind her, and Vali laughs.

“Not Yet.”


End file.
